Chapter 172: Renovating the Courtyard Again — The Most Beautiful Building in Red Maple Village

Caiyun opened the door, and in walked Father Lin, Mother Lin, Big Brother, and Sister-in-law—four people together.

Mother Lin was holding a pair of cloth shoes, while Father Lin and Big Brother each had a red envelope, which they handed to Lin Heng.

“Mom, Dad, what’s all this?” Lin Heng was stunned, completely clueless.

Caiyun and Xiulan both chuckled. Xiulan said, “Looks like you’ve been so busy you forgot—today’s your birthday! Did you really forget?”

Lin Heng blinked. “Today’s the fifth day of the tenth lunar month?”

He had truly forgotten. He hadn’t celebrated his birthday in years and barely remembered it anymore.

“So here, take it. We’re all here to celebrate your birthday,” Mother Lin said with a smile.

Lin Heng laughed heartily. “Thank you, Mom and Dad. Thanks, Big Bro and Sister-in-law.”

Caiyun went into the house and brought out a gray knitted scarf. She handed it to him with a smile. “Second Brother, this is my gift for you. I knitted it myself.”

“Thanks, Caiyun.” Lin Heng grinned from ear to ear, pleasantly surprised by the thoughtful gift.

Xiulan brought out bowls and chopsticks and had everyone sit down for dinner. The birthday gift she had prepared for Lin Heng was already on his feet.

Lin Heng quickly mixed up a tangy, spicy dipping sauce. Smiling, he said, “Mom, Dad, Big Bro, Sister-in-law, try the hotpot. I was actually planning to invite you all over in a few days.”

Curious, everyone picked up their chopsticks and tried a bit. Their expressions quickly turned to approval.

Father Lin looked surprised. “Not bad—this is really tasty.”

“So this is hotpot, huh? Pretty good,” Lin Yue nodded.

Mother Lin and Sister-in-law Liu Juan were curious about how it was made and wanted to learn.

Lin Heng smiled. “This was a bit rushed. Let’s do a proper one in a few days.”

The family enjoyed a warm, cheerful meal together. There weren’t many dishes, and everyone ate modestly. As they were finishing up, Xiulan brought out a bowl of longevity noodles for Lin Heng.

In this era, rural birthdays didn’t involve Western traditions, let alone birthday cakes. Most people just cooked a couple of dishes and had a family meal. The birthday person would eat a bowl of longevity noodles.

Given their situation, this was already quite a luxurious celebration. As Lin Heng ate his noodles, he received heartfelt blessings from his family.

After the meal, Mother Lin and Sister-in-law helped wash the dishes before heading home. It was already dark, and they couldn’t stay any longer.

“Here, this orange is really sweet.” Lin Heng peeled an orange and held a segment up to Xiulan’s lips.

Xiulan ate it with a playful smile. “I’m going to take a bath. You put Xiao Xia to sleep.”

“Got it.” Lin Heng nodded.

He spent half an hour telling stories to Xiao Xia before she finally drifted off. Just as he finished, Xiulan came out of the bath, wrapped in a blanket, sitting on the bed waiting for him.

“Here, this is for you.”

As Lin Heng approached, Xiulan handed him a bouquet of red flowers—something she had made herself, inspired by the maple leaf bouquet Lin Heng once gave her.

“Thank you, wifey.”

Lin Heng grinned, set the flowers aside, and leaned in to kiss her.

Xiulan stopped him with a smile, handing him a red scarf. “Hold on, there’s one more gift.”

Lin Heng placed the scarf on the table, then looked at her with a mischievous grin. “But the best birthday gift is sitting right in front of me, isn’t it?”

He had already noticed the white stockings on Xiulan’s long legs, and underneath, she was wearing his favorite black lace lingerie.

Xiulan’s cheeks flushed bright red. She nodded shyly, her voice barely above a whisper. “Do you like it?”

“Of course. This is the best birthday gift ever.”

Lin Heng chuckled wickedly, pulled off the blanket, and scooped his wife into bed.

“Blow out the candles! Woo~”

Xiulan gasped, but before she could finish her sentence, her lips were sealed. Embarrassed, she quickly closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Lin Heng’s neck.

By flickering candlelight, Lin Heng indulged in his favorite treat—his beloved wife.

They say women are made of water, and Lin Heng could fully attest to that when it came to Xiulan. He had to change the sheets every day just to get a decent night’s sleep.

Tonight, being his birthday, Xiulan agreed to anything. The candlelit setting was a first for both of them, and the experience was unforgettable.

Xiulan was overwhelmed with shyness, caught in a whirlwind of embarrassment, pleasure, and restraint.

They didn’t stop until the candles burned out on their own.

“You bad man!” Xiulan whispered, pouting. This guy was just too much.

Lin Heng grinned like a fool, feeling happier than a god. “Say ‘gege’,” he teased.

Xiulan was flustered and quickly gave in with a soft, sweet “Gege, please, no more~”

“Then give me a kiss.”

Xiulan obediently wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, completely at his mercy.

At some point, the two of them drifted off to sleep. By the time they woke up, the sun was already high in the sky. Neither of them wanted to get up—Lin Heng’s lower back ached, and Xiulan’s legs were sore.

“This is all your fault. I’m not getting up,” Xiulan pouted, glaring at him.

“No problem. Then let’s just stay in bed,” Lin Heng said with a cheeky grin, pulling her into his arms.

But soon enough, Xiulan crawled out of bed to find clothes, giving Lin Heng’s cheek a firm pinch on the way. This guy never behaved himself.

After getting up, Lin Heng rested for a while, had breakfast, then went to check on the construction site. After that, he rode his horse to Shimen Village.

When he arrived, Village Party Secretary Zhang Lei greeted him with a smile. “If you hadn’t shown up today, I was about to send someone to fetch you. The bluestone you ordered is ready.”

Lin Heng was pleasantly surprised. “Already? That was fast!”

It hadn’t even been a full month. He had just come to check on the progress.

Zhang Lei nodded. “Yep, it’s done. Come with me to inspect the goods. If everything looks good, you can take them. As for the leftover broken slabs, take whatever you want.”

Lin Heng nodded and followed Zhang Lei to Bluestone Mountain. The finished slabs were neatly stacked at the base of the hill.

“Wait, why are they 50 by 100 cm? That’s not what I asked for,” Lin Heng said, frowning at the slabs.

Zhang Lei explained, “One-meter squares are hard to cut and even harder to transport. So we made them 50 by 100 instead. They’re still usable. We cut you 620 pieces—20 extra as compensation.”

Lin Heng didn’t say anything. He took out a measuring tape and checked: one meter long, half a meter wide, five centimeters thick. The dimensions were consistent and neatly cut.

This type of bluestone was different from marble. Its surface was rough, marked with chisel lines from steel nails—evidence of manual stone-splitting.

Without electricity, everything was done by hand. Workers would first carve a groove into the stone with a chisel, then insert steel nails at regular intervals along the groove. Each nail was struck in sequence with equal force. Once all the nails were in, the stone would split.

It was a technique that required real skill. One wrong move and the stone could shatter. But in the hands of a seasoned worker, the process was surprisingly fast.

Naturally, these slabs weren’t as smooth as machine-cut marble. But Lin Heng actually liked the rough texture—it gave off a rustic charm and made the surface less slippery.

Though the size had been altered, the extra 20 slabs made up for it. All in all, it was fair.

“Alright then, I’ll head back and arrange for the carts. Once the stone’s delivered, I’ll pay you,” Lin Heng told Zhang Lei.

Zhang Lei nodded. “No problem. If you need more, just let us know.”

Lin Heng rode back, gathered Li Shiwei and his brother Lin Yue, and brought three wooden carts to transport the stone.

As they rode, Li Shiwei shook his head. “I still think this is a waste of money. You could’ve just poured a concrete floor. This is totally unnecessary.”

He and Lin Heng were cousins, born just a few days apart, and had always addressed each other by name.

Lin Yue didn’t say anything, but he agreed—there was no need to lay stone slabs in a dirt-floor house.

“Spending money on something that makes you happy is never a waste. Life’s short, no point in settling when it comes to where you live,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

He didn’t care about the 150 yuan. Pouring a plain concrete floor would completely ruin the traditional aesthetic he envisioned for his courtyard.

“Must be nice to be rich,” Li Shiwei sighed. Seeing Lin Heng getting wealthier by the day had fired him up too—he was more determined than ever to make money. Lin Heng just smiled at the teasing and turned to his older brother, Lin Yue. “Big Bro, there’s a bunch of broken stone slabs here you can take if you want. I’m planning to concrete the floors for all three of our families.”

Laying a concrete floor didn’t cost much, so he figured he’d help his brother and parents redo their floors too.

Lin Yue’s eyes lit up. “If it’s free, I’ll find some time to haul a few back.”

No reason to pass up free materials, and a stone-paved floor really did look better.

They chatted casually along the way, and in half an hour, the two of them arrived at Shimen Village.

Li Shiwei looked at the bluestone and praised, “These stones are actually pretty nice.”

“Of course. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have paid that price,” Lin Heng replied with a grin.

The three of them put on gloves and started hauling stone. Each slab weighed about 120–130 pounds and took two people to move.

Since the road back to Red Maple Village was mostly downhill, they loaded 15 slabs per trip—over a ton per load.

They made six trips in the morning and eight in the afternoon to haul back all the quality stone Lin Heng had bought.

The broken slabs were left for later—there were plenty, and no one wanted them anyway. They could come get them whenever needed.

The slabs were stacked outside the courtyards of both families, drawing curious looks from many villagers.

When they found out Lin Heng was renovating again, envy spread like wildfire. In the whole village, only Lin Heng had the money to do things like this.

Even with the construction site still running over at Red Maple Mountain, he still had the energy to work on his house.

At dinner, Xiulan looked at her husband, who’d been busy all day, and asked, “Are you planning to start the work in the next couple of days?”

Lin Heng took a bite and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll get started soon, but I want to finish the vegetable garden first.”

“I’ll help you tomorrow then,” said Xiulan.

Lin Heng agreed. “Sure. Big Bro and Li Shiwei will be helping too. More hands, faster work.”

As for the Red Maple Mountain site, his dad, Third Uncle, and his uncle-in-law were enough to keep an eye on things.

Early the next morning, Lin Heng called over his brother and Li Shiwei.

First order of business: uproot everything in the vegetable garden—ripe or not, it all had to go.

Next, they moved the doghouse, pig pen, badger pen, and musk deer enclosure to the back hill to free up space in the front yard for renovations.

Once that was done, Lin Yue looked at Lin Heng and asked, “What’s next, little bro?”

Lin Heng smiled. “Now we improve the soil. I’ll mark the garden layout first.”

The old vegetable garden was a mess, and the soil wasn’t great. He wanted to replan everything.

The front yard was 32 meters long east to west, and 12.5 meters wide north to south. The central north-south axis was a corridor he’d built earlier.

The corridor was two meters wide with only eight wooden pillars, so it didn’t take up much space.

The yard was split evenly on both sides of the corridor, totaling 200 square meters. Previously, about 150 square meters had been used for vegetables.

This time, Lin Heng planned to reduce the garden to 80 square meters—40 on each side, close to the courtyard walls. He’d design them as long strips, 10 meters long and 2 meters wide. Four plots would make exactly 80 square meters. Being up against the walls would keep things neat.

Four plots would be enough. If more vegetables were needed, they could plant them in other fields outside the courtyard.

The main focus of the courtyard was aesthetics.

After marking the layout, the four of them dug down 30 centimeters, piling the yellow soil outside.

Once that was done, Lin Heng smiled and said, “Now let’s head to the back hill and dig up some humus soil.”

“Let’s go!”

The four of them grabbed bags and went to the back hill to dig up the black, decomposed leaf humus soil. Lin Heng also brought back several large bags of pine needles to lay at the bottom of the garden beds.

They mixed the humus soil with the yellow soil, then Lin Heng went to the old house and brought back several hundred pounds of husks left over from threshing this year’s grain.

He added those in, along with fermented pig and cow manure, sand from sandy soil, and ash from burned grass and wood.

These seven ingredients were mixed thoroughly, turning the usually compacted yellow soil into a loose, breathable, and nutrient-rich planting bed that would stay fertile for years.

Vegetables and fruits grown in this kind of soil would not only thrive but also yield significantly more.

It took them the entire day to finish the vegetable garden. Finally, they used the bluestone slabs Lin Heng had bought to border the garden beds, both to define the space and to prevent soil from spilling.

By the time they were done, it was already dark. Li Shiwei looked at the four garden plots and shook his head. “This soil’s so rich, even rocks could sprout flowers.”

Lin Heng chuckled and turned to his brother. “Want to do the same for your garden?”

The soil mix he used was based on sound science and carefully balanced proportions. Even lifelong farmers might not understand the logic behind it—it really required some learning.

Lin Yue shook his head. “I’m planning to square off my garden too, but your method’s too much work. I’ll just throw in some cow manure when I plant.”

His garden was already full of vegetables and fruits, so it wasn’t practical to rip everything out.

“That works too. Xiulan’s almost done cooking—let’s eat,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

After dinner, Lin Heng was exhausted. He put Xiao Xia to bed and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

The next morning, he brought in his cousin Lin Hai and Li Shiwei to help transport sand and cement from Red Maple Mountain by cart.

He and his brother Lin Yue worked on leveling the floors at home. It was a bit of a challenge for Lin Yue, but for Lin Heng, it was second nature.

In his previous life, he’d done all kinds of hard labor to pay off debts and had picked up a lot of skills. Masonry work like this was no problem for him.

They leveled not just the front and back yards, but also the floors inside the house. The old stone slabs were removed and stacked outside the courtyard wall.

Rooms with furniture were left for later. Once other rooms were done, they’d move the furniture around and do those floors too.

Leveling took the whole morning, and in the afternoon, they started laying the stone slabs.

Except for a few small flower beds reserved for trees and flowers, the entire front yard was paved with bluestone.

Li Shiwei and Lin Hai mixed the cement mortar, Lin Heng laid the slabs, and Lin Yue assisted.

Watching Lin Heng work, Lin Yue praised, “Little bro, you’ve got real skills! This looks amazing.”

“Yeah, it’s beautiful,” Lin Hai and Li Shiwei nodded in agreement. They hadn’t expected Lin Heng to be this good.

Laying stone might seem simple, but there were lots of details. If done poorly, it could look awful.

Lin Heng laughed. “Just figured it out myself, watched others do it.”

The four of them spent three days finishing the job. They used 220 square meters of bluestone for the front yard and house interior, and 30 square meters for the backyard, with 120 slabs left over.

Lin Heng didn’t waste a single one. He used some to make a stone table and stools in the front yard, and built two stone basins—one for washing clothes, the other for storing water.

The rest could be used to build basins and water tanks for his parents’ place.

“So, what do you think? Doesn’t the house feel way more open now?” Lin Heng said, pulling Xiulan into the courtyard.

Looking around, everything inside and out was paved with neatly arranged bluestone, the gaps sealed with cement. There wasn’t a trace of yellow dirt or uneven ground in sight.

Xiulan nodded vigorously. “Mhm! It’s so pretty and tidy now—it just lifts your whole mood.”

Before the renovations, she hadn’t thought there was anything wrong with the house. But now that she saw the changes, she finally understood why Lin Heng had insisted on remodeling.

The difference was night and day. Just looking at it made you feel better.

“Yay!!”

Xiao Xia was running around the courtyard, carefree. They no longer had to worry about her tripping over rocks or uneven ground—aside from the drainage ditch, the whole yard was smooth and level.

Seeing the smiles on his wife and daughter’s faces, Lin Heng felt a deep sense of accomplishment well up inside him. Everything he’d done was for them—for his family.

The house might not be big, but it held a special place in his heart. The painful memories from his past life were slowly being replaced by the warmth of these new, joyful moments.

He took his wife’s hand and smiled as he continued, “But we’re not done yet. Once I pour concrete for Big Brother’s and Mom and Dad’s places, I’ll go buy some plaster and coat the outer walls and courtyard walls. Then we’ll have real red tiles and white walls—it’ll look even better and cleaner.”

As he spoke, Lin Heng scooped up Xiao Xia, who had run over to him, and spun her around in the air twice, letting out his excitement.

Xiulan laughed and said, “No one’s going to call our place a mud house anymore.”

It might technically still be a mud house, but it looked better than any brick house in the village now.

Turns out, even a mud house can be beautiful—if you put in the effort.

(End of Chapter)